Author's note: Here I am with a new chapter. Please enjoy and review :)
The cool water was dripping form her hair onto her bare body and quickly ran down her spine. Goosebumps formed on her sun-kissed skin while she stepped out of the shower reaching for a towel to dry herself off.
It was such a relief for Victoria to finally be able to wash the sweat mixed with fear away and fix the mess her hair had turned into due to the last two weeks she had spent on the road.
Although they hadn't made it to California's coast already, Victoria had decided to sell one of the necklaces Conrad had once bought her in order to pay for the sweet little apartment they had checked in to last night. David had worn a ridiculously looking moustache during the procedure of distracting the lady at the reception from their familiar faces she might have seen on TV and much to their satisfaction she had given them the key to one of the apartments located further away from the rest of the hotel.
There was another apartment on the opposite side of the exotic garden, but David had made sure that there were no guests living there, so he could take the kids outside in the morning before it would get too hot to survive without air conditioning.
Meanwhile Victoria had taken a shower and was snow putting on her underwear again, which she noticed was already becoming too small for her growing belly and breasts. She couldn't quite believe that she was about to enter the 5th month of pregnancy when at the same time she knew all too well that she needed to see a doctor soon. Maybe she should just drive into town today and contact someone to check on her ignoring the danger of being discovered. After all, most people wouldn't recognize her anyways without her fancy clothes and tons of make-up attempting to erase the sadness from her face. The truth was that Victoria Grayson was just a shell. A perfect doll designed to please the media and look flawless on her husband's arm.
Ever since she had left the Hamptons however, she had also left that shell behind. Now Victoria was simply Victoria, she didn't even know if she still needed a last name to define herself. She certainly wasn't Victoria Harper either, for she felt way too appreciated and loved around the people she shared a life with.
She lowered her head and glanced down her body and her gaze rested on the now obvious bump on her stomach, which would become difficult to hide very soon. It made her smile to think that the tiny human being inside of her had already changed her life so much. If she hadn't found out that she was pregnant, maybe Conrad's threats would've convinced her enough to betray David instead of running away with him.
"Thank you." She whispered kissing her hand, which she then placed on her stomach. It might be time become Victoria Clarke now. She thought to herself and really liked the idea of forming that new identity for her.
After she had dried off, Victoria left the bathroom to get herself something to drink. On her way to the small kitchen she looked outside the window where she saw David, Amanda and Daniel playing some game around the water fountain in the middle of the garden. It was the first time she saw Amanda laughing since the day Charlotte had passed away. All of them still felt the loss of the great woman, who had let them experience their life as a family.
As Victoria crossed the kitchen table something white caught her attention in the corner of her eye.
She stopped and looked over to the table, where she could detect a big white envelope. It definitely hadn't been there before she had taken the shower, so that Victoria wondered what on earth was inside of it. She sat down in one of the chairs, curiously taking the mysterious envelope into her hands. Perhaps it was a message from David, but why would he make communicating with her this complicated?
The envelope was still closed, which didn't hold Victoria back from opening it. She took a knife and quickly sliced the paper, so that its content was revealed.
Staring at it with widened eyes, Victoria pulled a piece of paper out of the envelope.
However, she immediately realized that it was not just a piece of paper, but rather a photograph. Her hands began to tremble as she laid the picture on the table in front of her.
"No." She breathed, her hand flying to her mouth. She saw a familiar face, which was damaged enough not to be recognized in the first place. His lip was bleeding, there were scratches on his cheek and worst of all his eyes were so blue and swollen he couldn't even look straight ahead anymore. Victoria's eyes scanned the picture and she noticed that his hands were tied together at the back of a chair and that he struggled to keep himself in an upright position.
This hadn't been part of her plan. She had never meant to hurt anyone.
See how much pain your childish behavior has already caused.
Don't feel so save. Maybe your terrorist friend is next.
Victoria gasped for air as she read the message on the back of the photo. This was a nightmare. Roger Halsted had been tortured because she had asked him for help. She couldn't even be sure if he was still alive. And those words could only be the product of her husband's cruel mind.
Slowly Victoria remembered that this envelope somehow must've found its way inside of the apartment while she had been in the shower.
Panic overcame her body and she jumped up from her chair. "David!" She screamed almost falling over. "David!" The last syllable was stuck in Victoria's mouth since her stomach had turned around at the sight of the horribly injured Roger Halsted and the immense amount of guilt, which began to possess her mind. She rushed to the bathroom just in time to throw up into the toilet.
It didn't take long until she felt someone holding her hair out of her face and a hand stroking her bare back.
"Hey, V. What happened?" David said soothingly. He was surprised that she had to vomit since that hadn't happened anymore during the last few weeks.
Victoria wiped her mouth and raised her head to look at David with a horrified expression on her face. "Didn't you see the photo?"
"What photo?" David chuckled and had obviously no idea what she was talking about.
"It's on the kitchen table!" Victoria flushed the toilet and carefully tried to stand up again. "You can't let the children see it!" She suddenly became aware of the fact that as soon as Daniel and Amanda entered the apartment, they would probably detect the horrible picture on the table. Therefore she pushed David to the side and stormed back into the kitchen.
He followed her immediately, not quite sure why Victoria was frantically running around the apartment in her underwear while something was obviously wrong. "Can you maybe explain to me what all this is about?" Before he could complain any further, Victoria turned around and held the photograph right in front of his face.
"This is wrong." She whispered feeling her eyes getting wet. David took the photo from her shaking hands. Apparently he was just as shocked as she was.
"Who did this?" He asked although he already knew the answer.
"Read the message on the back."
"How… I don't understand." David's words were filled with disbelief. Roger had been one of the first persons at Grayson Global who had told him the all the secrets about the company and helped him to manage the huge amount of work Conrad had given him. To see their friendship turn into something this tragic was like a slap into his face.
"David, you know what this means." Victoria looked at him with fear in her eyes as David finally realized what else the white envelope on their kitchen table meant. "Someone must've been in here. I was in the shower, I…"
For a moment David managed to look away from the photograph and therefore recognized Victoria's irregular breathing.
Instinctively he pulled her into his arms slowly stroking her back. He sensed that she was hyperventilating, so he tried to calm her down.
"Victoria, breathe." David took her hands and placed them on his chest. He focused on her brown eyes while she kept on drawing in too much air and not breathing it out.
"Victoria, look at me." Her eyes searched for something in his face to concentrate on. "Okay, and now breathe in… and breathe out… and in… out…" She listened to his soothing words feeling his chest rising slowly up and down beneath her hands. "Right, just like this." After a few more seconds David embraced her again attentively looking over her shoulder to see if anyone was still in their apartment. Victoria was right. There must've been someone sneaking into the room to place the envelope there. But where was that person now? Were they waiting for them to come out so that it would be easier to arrest him? He wouldn't give Conrad that kind of satisfaction. As bad as this threat was, he wouldn't give up now. He would find a way to get his family out of the apartment as a unit.
"Are the children still outside?" Victoria asked worriedly leaning against David's body.
"Don't panic. I will tell them to come in and then we'll find a way to escape."
"I don't think that there's a way to escape now. The message was pretty clear. I don't want you to get hurt." Victoria buried her face in David's chest thinking about how much she would miss him already.
"There's always a way, Victoria." He lovingly kissed her wet hair. "You need to dress now and then we'll see how we will proceed."
"Be careful, okay?" Victoria whispered stepping away from David.
He simply nodded heading towards the garden.
Amanda and Daniel had stopped their game when they saw David approaching.
"Come on you two, before you get sunstroke. You can drink the lemonade we bought yesterday now." He cautiously looked around but didn't notice anything unusual.
"Yaay." Daniel screamed jumping up and down on his way inside. In contrast to him Amanda was more suspicious of her father's change of mind. She knew him too well not to notice the worried expression on his face.
"What is wrong, Dad?" She asked standing by his side.
"Nothing, darling. Let's go inside, it's so much cooler there." David forced himself to smile while he took his daughter's hand and led her into the apartment. As they arrived in the kitchen Victoria had already changed into a red dress and poured her son a glass of lemonade.
"Do you want some too, Amanda?" She asked.
"Yes, please." The 9-year-old answered politely taking a seat next to Daniel.
Victoria shot David a nervous look, so he motioned for her to sit down at the kitchen table.
After he had also taken a seat, David made a suggestion. "So, Amanda, Daniel: Victoria and I have just decided to leave now to find a different place to stay near the beach, so we can all go for a swim. Doesn't that sound great?"
"But I like it here. Can't we stay a little longer?" Amanda complained glaring at her father and Victoria.
"I promise that we'll find something just as nice only right by the sea and then we will stay there. So please pack your things so we can leave as soon as possible." David caught a look full of disapproval from Victoria. "Alright, I'll go to the reception now and prepare everything for us to check out." He got up from the chair going to the door when Victoria went after him.
"What are you doing?" She whispered. "You don't know if we are being shadowed. You can't leave the apartment."
"Victoria, I'll be back in 10 minutes and make sure that we can get out of here without being seen."
"No, I'll go." She said determinedly moving past David and opened the door.
"I don't think so." David returned holding her back.
"David, let me go. Remember that we're in this together." She made a step through the door causing David to sigh defeated.
"But V, make sure that you'll come back."
She threw him a kiss before she swirled around making her way to the reception.
At the slightest noise Victoria's heart skipped a beat. Her conscience had told her not to let David manage this because she knew that Conrad wouldn't hesitate to hurt him while he would never let anyone harm her. Nevertheless she still felt far from safe or self-confident when she stopped at the reception desk combing her wet hair with her fingers.
She quickly figured out that the biggest problem was not the fear of being arrested right then and there, but rather convincing the hotel manager that they didn't want to end their stay because they didn't like the apartment.
"Again, I'm sorry for leaving so early, but my husband received a call from work and he really has to be at that meeting."
The man at the reception obviously seemed to buy her story, even accepting that Victoria paid with cash. "We would love to welcome you as our guests any time. Have a safe trip home then."
"Thank you very much. Good bye." She smiled at him about to turn around when the hotel manager opened his mouth again.
"Oh, and before I forget: My wife and I wish you and your husband all the best." The man smiled back at Victoria, whose facial expression became puzzled.
"I'm sorry, but for what?"
"Uhm…" His face suddenly reddened. "My wife, she told me that you were, uh, expecting a baby?"
Inevitably Victoria's smile dropped from her mouth. The shirt she had worn yesterday had probably been too tight.
"Of course! Thank you. I'm just a bit tired and I didn't realize that I was showing already. Well, give my best to your wife then." She decided not to deny the pregnancy so that the already awkward situation wouldn't become even more awkward for the hotel manager.
"I will. Good bye Mrs Meyer."
The moment Victoria could eventually close the door of the car behind her, she swore two things to herself: First of all, she needed new clothes. Urgently.
And second of all she wouldn't lean back in her chair now after their for some strange reason easy escape from the hotel. Quite the contrary, the fact that they had been able to leave without any complications made her even more suspicious since she was sure that if Conrad had succeeded in tracking them down, he wouldn't simply have David arrested. No, he would definitely make a show out of this and right in that moment Victoria was only waiting for the curtain to rise.
So I hope you're hooked on what's going to happen next. The next chapter is almost ready so you won't have to wait too long. ;) Please don't forget to tell me what you think about the storyline and if you think if Victoria and David will make it through this. xo